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"Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!" Captain Thomas of the Spanish Navy saw through the telescope a huge fleet like a dark cloud coming through the waves. He was horrified and immediately gave the order to prepare for battle.
The Spanish soldiers on the ship rushed to their combat posts, the gunners nervously loaded the gunpowder, and one cannon after another was quickly pushed towards the portholes.
The dense gun muzzles were exposed on the sides, and it could be seen that each of their warships had as many as 22 guns on one side, more than twice as many as Hai Rufeng and his men.
Although the Spanish Navy is declining, it was once the empire that dominated the world. As the saying goes, a centipede will not die even if it is cut into pieces. Their strength should not be underestimated, and they have rich experience in naval warfare.
In their usual training, one person is usually assigned to ask the sail controller where the wind is coming from every two minutes, and practice continuously until he can immediately and correctly point out where the wind is coming from.
Another thing is to observe flags, smoke, flying dust, moving clouds, ripples on the water, etc. to quickly determine changes in wind direction.
This is very important. Only by adjusting the sails quickly and correctly according to wind direction at any time can the warship reach the optimal speed, and the speed in wartime is equal to the survivability of the warship.
The sailors of the two large Spanish warships were very skilled in this operation. Now that they were sailing downwind, the sailors quickly loosened the mainsail and foresail riggings to increase the speed of the warships to the highest level.
And accurately following Thomas's order, the ship drew an arc on the sea, and the cold naval guns turned little by little along with the hull.
At this time, Hai Rufeng and Wang Guichen's two camps, totaling twenty warships, were sailing against the wind.
When sailing against the wind, you cannot go in a straight line facing the wind. You can only keep taking a zigzag route to let the boat sail sideways. This will make the speed relatively slow and the route will actually be much longer.
The sea was turbulent, the two armies were getting closer and closer, and a war was about to break out.
There has been no declaration of war between Daqin and Spain, but in this situation, it is clear that neither side has any good intentions.
In those days, the navies of various countries did not have a common flag language for communication. The Qin Royal Navy did create a complete set of flag languages, but the Spaniards probably couldn't understand it.
Since communication is impossible, in this situation, unless one party avoids, the only option is to use cannons to speak.
boom!
Hai Rufeng's flagship opened fire first, flames gushed out, and bullets whizzed away.
Thomas originally wanted to send a small boat to negotiate first and find out the purpose of this huge fleet. However, he did not expect that the other party would not even give him a chance to negotiate and immediately opened fire. Thomas was really scared.
Looking at the distance between the two sides, he couldn't help but laugh. There was still more than a mile to go. Firing at such a long distance was usually something only a rookie would do, because it was a sheer waste of ammunition.
As expected, the shells landed far away from his two warships and posed no threat at all, which made Thomas feel relieved. So he decided not to retreat and try to test the fleet's strengths first.
At this time, he had already guessed which country this fleet came from.
Apart from the Qin Dynasty, no other country in the Far East could have assembled such a large fleet. This reminded him of the conquest plan in the drawer.
On the flagship of the Ninth Battalion, Hai Rufeng took out his black eye mask as usual and put it on, commanding the warship with murderous intent. He kept zigzagging and killing the Spanish warship.
Sun Shisan was finally freed from the chore of scraping fish scales, and he yelled at the gunners of the front main gun: "Damn it, you guys have made me lose face. Recalibrate, calibrate! Quickly!"
The gunners actually didn't feel too nervous before the battle. After all, they had a huge fleet behind them, which made them feel that this was no different from their usual artillery training.
Gunner Wu Sanpei could not help but reply in his busy schedule: "Captain Sun, this first shot is a test fire. We have been holding back for so long. It would be boring if we sank the enemy ship with just one shot. At least let us fire two more shots, just like the firecrackers for the New Year..."
If he hadn't seen him raise his thumb and start using the jump eye method to measure distance, Sun Shisan would have kicked him hard on the butt: "Wu Sanpei, I let you show off. If this cannon doesn't hit the target again, I'll throw you into the sea to feed the fish!"
Unlike the calm guys on the gunboats, the Qin soldiers on the eagle ships and bluff ships had become very nervous. Their ships were small and light, and had already approached to within a mile. They would soon have to bear the heavy bombardment of enemy artillery fire.
The two camps had a total of sixteen small and medium-sized warships, one on the left and one on the right, like two groups of sea wolves riding the wind and waves, all the sails were inflated and taut, and the bows plowed up white waves.
boom!
There was another loud bang, and the main gun of the 9th Battalion's flagship roared again. The whistling shells flew across the vast sea, flew over Thomas's warship, and almost hit the mast, scaring the lookout on the mast so much that he hugged the mast and screamed loudly...
Thomas was also secretly shocked. This was not something a rookie could do. Although rookies also had bad luck sometimes, the bad luck usually did not come so early. It would only appear after a long time of hard work.
"Turn right! Turn right!" Thomas tried to stay calm.
Soon, the Spanish warship completed its turn again, and the cannons on the starboard side began to roar. Boom! Boom! Boom! Dozens of projectiles streaked across the sky and fell on the sea like a meteor shower, creating huge splashes of water.
The Qin army's eagle ships and bluff ships were flying over the sea like eagles. Cannon fire kept coming from the front and back of the Spaniards. Water columns kept rushing up from all around. They shuttled briskly in the water columns, which made people sweat.
The black hull and black sails give people a mysterious and strange feeling. It is not difficult to imagine that if they were blocked by them, it would be like a group of wolves fighting for food.
In addition to this, what is even more frightening is that the huge fleet consisting of hundreds of warships in the distance also began to split into two and encircle from a distance. The sea was magnificent, the black sails were like clouds, covering the sky and the sun. The incomparably magnificent picture was so beautiful that people dared not look at it.
At least Thomas didn't dare to look any further, "Quick! Keep turning right! West! West..."
Seeing the Spanish warship turn, Hai Rufeng, who was observing with a telescope, immediately shouted: "The enemy ship is trying to escape, chase it!"
Boom! Boom boom boom!
The four gunboats of the 9th and 10th Battalions were sailing in a zigzag pattern. At this time, their broadsides finally turned to the direction of the enemy ships, and the forty thousand-jin falconets immediately roared;
This type of artillery would replace the sub-gun immediately after firing, and could reach a firing rate of about three rounds per minute. Forty artillery pieces roared together, and the shells were like heavy rain. On the sea in the distance, columns of water rushed up several feet high, making the two Spanish warships look like they were fleeing in a jungle of water columns.
The two sides were already within four hundred steps of each other. Thomas did not dare to continue fighting. The Qin army was too strong, six hundred to two. The difference in strength between the two sides was not a little bit. If every enemy farted, they would be knocked down. This battle was really impossible to fight!
The Qin army's artillery shells kept chasing the two enemy warships. The sea was filled with smoke, flames, and water columns shot up into the sky. The sea, which was originally as quiet as a girl's naughty body, was now like a queen playing with a candle whip, making the Spaniards cry out that they could not bear it.
Under Thomas's command, the two warships turned continuously. Every time they turned sideways, the cannons on the ships would roar and fire back fiercely.
The sound of the cannon was like thunder, the bullets were like rain, and the water splashed everywhere. A Qin army eagle ship was hit on the main sail, and with a bang, a big hole was immediately broken in the main sail. Fortunately, the mast was not broken. The sailors on the ship cursed loudly while hurriedly lowering the broken sail and replacing it with a new one.
Hai Rufeng saw that his own shells always missed the enemy ship by a little bit, and instead the enemy shells were getting closer and closer, splashing water on his face. He couldn't help but cursed: "Sun Shisan, did you have diarrhea? Damn it, even if you have diarrhea, you have to spray the enemy in my face..."
Gunner Sun Shisan was already extremely annoyed after failing to hit the enemy ship after several rounds of salvos. Then, after being yelled at by the commander, he could not help but step forward, kick gunner Wu Sanpei away, and adjust the angle himself.
boom!
The front main gun roared again, and the huge projectile whizzed away with Sun Shisan's anger. With a loud bang, the projectile hit the side of the cabin of Thomas's flagship fiercely, and wood chips flew everywhere, and there were screams in the cabin.
After the bullet penetrated the starboard bulkhead, its residual power continued and it hit a cannon on the port side violently, actually knocking the cannon out of the porthole and falling into the sea.
After the bullet hit the cannon, it bounced back and knocked the two Spanish artillerymen into a bloody mess, unrecognizable...
A burst of ecstatic cheers came from the Qin warship. Sun Shisan was so excited that his hair stood on end. He shouted arrogantly: "Come again, reload quickly! I'm going to spray him in the face..."
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ps: Today is the first of the day, and the second update is here. Please use your guaranteed monthly tickets to support our naval officers and soldiers. Come on, smash the enemy to pieces... Please give me your guaranteed monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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